Kyle Orton couldn’t have played his hand any better, no matter what Jerry Jones says.

Orton considered retiring in the offseason, and if he had, the Cowboys wanted the backup quarterback to repay around $3 million of his signing bonus. Instead, Orton told the team he intended to come to training camp after missing mandatory minicamp, allowing him to keep the money. The Cowboys had already moved on, bringing in Brandon Weeden to be Tony Romo’s backup, and they released Orton on July 15.

Orton got more money and a better chance to see the field, backing up EJ Manuel, while the Cowboys owner/general manager claims he has no regrets about releasing one of the league’s most reliable backups.

“It didn’t really surprise me because right at the end, right when we started to camp, Kyle basically came to Dallas and expressed an interest in playing,” Jones said on his weekly radio show on KRLD-FM. “But we had decided to go in a different direction. We liked everything Weeden was doing, so it gave us a good chance to take a player that’s got a chance to help us many years into the future.

“We thought getting Weeden some experience, you could have him where Kyle Orton is pretty quick. That’s not taking anything away from Kyle Orton as much as it is giving Weeden a big plus.”

In two seasons with the Browns, Weeden has completed 55.9 percent of his passes, while throwing 23 touchdowns and 26 interceptions. Orton has thrown for over 15,000 yards in his career, throwing 83 touchdowns and 59 interceptions.